Start Anywhere....

View from my bedroom window ...with the artistic licence of zooming between the two small cottages that block my view. I love the sun sparkling on the river.

This made me think about art - and how it is not meant to reproduce life, but to represent it. I often wonder who decides that one painting is "good" while another is average, but when you look at a great painting next to one with less appeal, it is clear. There is a certain , indefinable difference that draws you to it and makes you think and feel. I'm thinking about art because I am about to attend the first lesson of an art course at Newtown (my favourite suburb of Sydney). I guess I'll "just show up" and "start anywhere"!

Wake Up To The Gifts...

Things I'm loving right now.......

• Waking up to kookaburras laughing
• Exploring Darlinghurst with Anne
• Seeing live theatre at the Stables
• Sydney's cold snap!

Take Care of Each Other

Last week I visited the Art Gallery of NSW to see the Arts of Islam. It is an amazing collection owned by Iranian-born Professor Nasser David Khalili and beautifully presented by the Gallery. I was in awe of the age and beauty of the items, from Byzantine tiles to Mongol warriors' saddles, Woven rugs to emerald boxes and jewelled daggers. There were many illuminated manuscripts of the Qur'an from the early 7th century to the early 20th century. As the Director of the Gallery says "There has never been a greater need for the wealth and imagination of Islamic cultures and artistic heritage to be revealed." The exhibition has been well patronised; on the day I was there, people were also flocking to see the USS Kittyhawk, which could be seen clearly from the Art Gallery restaurant. Interesting juxtaposition?

Enjoy the Ride...

A beautiful sunny winter's day, we are both on holidays, we live near one of the world's most beautiful harbours, so we hopped a train to Circular Quay then a ferry to Garden Island. Garden Island is the Naval Base which has a section open to the public and a museum. The views are amazing from there - if you enlarge this pic. you can clearly see the Blue Mountains, which are at least 2 hours out of Sydney. The merged shot shows some tiny little bridge walkers near the Australian and Aboriginal flags.

Tomorrow - Back To School!

Face the Facts....

Kate i (Through a lens lightly) has thrown down a challenge to the Oz. blogger sisters - to list "seven things about me" (maybe). One of the seven is NOT true - you guess which one.......

1. I have flown over Antarctica
2. I have ridden in a hot-air balloon
3. I have skied down a mountain
4. I have bungee jumped
5. I have ridden the highest, longest flying fox in Australia
6. I am allergic to oysters
7. I have sailed down the Suez canal

Six facts - one little white lie..............

Start Anywhere....

On holidays, playing around with the computer, clicking here and there to learn more about photos - and I found "photostitch"! I'm going to have fun with this.........

Enjoy the Ride!

I often mention our lunches near the river - so yesterday I took the camera along. We "hunted and gathered" by visiting our excellent local fish n' chip shop, added a bottle of excellent Aussie white and found a sunny spot at the water's edge. For a grand total of about $30, we had the best seat in the house!

Don't prepare!

How cool is this! I have not prepared a philosophical post today - I was just flicking through some photos and found this one. I took it while visiting the Gold Coast in Queensland with Eliza. We drove up to Mt.Tambourine for a rainforest walk, locked her keys in the boot of her car, then had to walk into the village for coffee and a long wait for rescue! This sculpture was in the garden of the coffee shop, and being a dog lover, I just HAD to take a picture.....

Wake Up To The Gifts

Simple pleasures, how easily we get stressed and busy and forget them. Things I'm loving right now:

• sunny winter days
• that orange trumpet vine
• lunch by the river with my best friend
• talking free to Paull in NYC via Skype
• having Eliza home for a while
• crisp morning walk/runs (ralks? wuns?)
• morning coffee at the delicatessan cafe
• afternoon "nanna" naps
• pumpkin curry on couscous

....and just chilling out reading, sketching, relaxing, sorting out next term - because I'm ON SCHOOL HOLIDAYS!

Pay Attention

This glorious painting is by Gloria Petyarre from the Utopia Aboriginal community. See more of their work here. I find contemporary Aboriginal art fascinating and mesmerising - especially when you are standing right in front of the works. They can leave you feeling dizzy and disoriented!

I was browsing through some aboriginal art on the net after chatting to my son in New York - he is going to an exhibition of works from Utopia. We reminisced about our trip to Central Australia in 2006, where we learned a lot about the Papunya Tula school. If you've never seen Australian Aboriginal Art, check it out - it's amazing.

Sadly, our aboriginal communities are in the news at present. With an election looming, our government has finally decided to try to make up for years of neglect. There are many health and social problems in the isolated communities - as a country, I feel we have treated our indigenous people very badly.